snowy adventure on niagara after the san juans received a september snowstorm wed PM/thurs AM. american became the day's casualty as we spent many more hours than expected climbing niagara and jones. the annual fall weekend in lake city never disappoints!

The drive up into Burns Gulch wasn't as bad as it looked from below (Animas Forks). Short drive in. Had the whole basin to myself.
Comboed with Jones, Crown and N. Crown Peaks. Weather threatened all morning but I lucked out with the rain.

Was certainly steeper than it looked! From below in Burns Gulch, the snow looked maybe mid-30s, but Shawn took consistent slope readings in the mid 40s all the way up! Great line, though, and a nice direct finish. Descended the ridge directly to the Jones-Niagara saddle.

Climbed it from Burns Gulch. We planned on climbing Jones as well but the sound of thunder across the valley made us retreat. But when the weather got better we walked up Eureka Mountain later in the day.

A fantastic route, except for this small and easy path up Niagara, it would otherwise be very difficult as most of the peak is rotten 5th class nightmare routes...tagging the nearby Jones Mtn was well worth the extra effort. Watch the falling rock on Niagara, falling rock on the East Ridge deposits itself into the upper reaches of Burns Gulch!!

Climbed American, Jones & Niagara from American Basin. Not the best way of nabbing these three peaks, but my friend was climbing Handies so I made this route work. The scree slope up to American's west ridge was rather treacherous and I had to reclimb Jones after summitting Niagara.

watch out for the marmots that'll ride back in your car, didn't notice the one that hitched a ride with me until it bumped the exhaust the next day (and made the jeep smell like burned hair for a few days)